Presentation on theme: "Values and Public Opinion"— Presentation transcript:

3 Modernization Modernisation:“a process that increases the economic and political capabilities of a society: it increases economic capabilities through industrialization, and political capabilities though bureaucratization”industrialization -> increase urbanization, occupation specialization, bureaucratization and higher levels of formal education -> mass political participationLeads to richer societiesShift from traditional to rational-legal valuesGreat predictive power

4 Why the change? Diminished marginal utility of modernizationBureaucratic institutions reached their functional and public acceptance limits (e.g., URSS)Economic “miracles” and the welfare state -> Creation of new needs (post WW2 generations the first without survival needs)

5 Intergenerational value changeA combination of two processes:Scarcity theorySocialization theoryPostmodernization became predominant after the post WW2 children grew up

6 Postmodernization The result of : conquering basic human needsacquisition of wealth through industrializationMore emphasis on:Individual autonomyDiversitySelf-expressionSelective traditions and new myths are valorisedQuality of life over economic achievement

7 Other effects of postmodernizationThe Risk Society -> risk is more dispersed and unpredictableLosing important security enhancing institutions (e.g., religion)Less emphasis and trust in politic and scientific authorityDecline in the importance of the family institution

8 Postmodernisation and politicsLong established political parties are erodingParticipation moving from voting to issue specific participationMove from class-based politics to cultural and quality of life policiesQuality of life over economic growth as priority

9 Prediction of postmodern theoryMore PM values in rich and secure countriesMore PM values for rich, secure and educated peopleProsperity -> increase in PM values and the reverseWhen economic growth and security are growing there is big difference in values between generations

10 Test theoretical modelUsing 40 societies (70% of world pop.) in 25 yearsEconomic growth is conductive to subjective well-being until the point of diminishing returnsCultures (survival strategies) reacts to change of context

14 Data and measuresRandom sample of adults in Minneapolis and St. Paul inSample size = 331

15 ConclusionsThe public is more sophisticated and consistent than previously thoughtCorrelations between items are explained by the higher order factorsCorrelations underestimate the degree of constraintOther observationsGeneral social moral attitudes not part of liberalism-conservatismRacial and economic attitudes are not independent

16 Configuration of Values in British Electorate 1986-2007Paula SurridgeConfiguration of Values in British Electorate

17 Values in BritainInterested in “core values” or “belief system” and their evolutionProblems:Cannot be observed directlyLeft-right measures versus multi-dimensionalWe don’t know how they evolved in UK

18 Value changeAlthough more stable than attitudes still interest in changeModels of change:Core values remain the same: people move on a stable continuum (left-right perspective)New values develop (e.g., postmaterialist values)Mechanism of change:Values are transmitted from elites to the public (Converse)Change in younger generations (greater security in formative years) (Inglehart)Diminished marginal utility for redistribution -> now argued as social justice (Inglehart)Converse on belief system: “A configuration of ideas and attitudes in which the elements are bound together by some form of constraint”

20 Questions used Left-right scale:Ordinary working people do not get their fair share of the nation’s wealthBig business benefits owners at the expense of workersGovernment should redistribute income from the better-off to those who are less well offThere is one law for the rich and one for the poorManagement will always try to get the better of employees if it gets the chanceAuthoritarian-liberal scale:Censorship of films and magazines is necessary to uphold moral standardsSchools should teach children to obey authorityYoung people today don’t have enough respect for traditional British valuesPeople who break the law should be given stiffer sentencesFor some crimes, the death penalty is the most appropriate sentenceThe law should always be obeyed even if a particular law is wrong

22 Results – changes in structureThe items:“Government should redistribute income from the better-off to those who are less well off”“Management will always try to get the better of employees if it gets the chance”are each significantly related to the authoritarian-liberal scaleCorrelation between the two dimensions increases- increased relationship between left and authoritarian

24 Results – changes in groupsChange by partyChange of elite discourse does not explain change in structureChange by ageNo differences in age groups in structureChange by social classLogic of redistribution different for middleclass

25 So how do core beliefs and values influence political opinions?Policy preferences, performance judgements, candidate assessments are all political evaluations (Feldman, 1988)These are made on the basis of a number of criteria such as self interest, group identifications and political eventsSo important to note that public attitudes are not completely structured by beliefs and values

26 Origin of people’s values and beliefsPolitical culture‘ set of widely shared beliefs, values, and norms concerning the relationship of citizens to their government and to one another in matters affecting public affairs’ (McClosky and Zaller, 1984)Maintained over time by the persistence of institutions and policies and by the strong commitment of political elitesPeople acquire/absorb them through socialisation and continual reinforcement by the norms of society and the language of political debate

27 Three core beliefs (Feldman, 1988)Support for economic individualism ( the belief that people should get ahead on their own through hard work)Belief in equality of opportunity ( interpreted as formal or political equality rather than equality of results; derived from the individualistic tradition)Support for the free enterprise system(generally accompanied by a distrust of big government)

28 ContinuedThe commitment to these beliefs is not uniformly distributed within the public ( McClosky and Zaller, 1984)To the extent that such differences exist, they could help account for variations in policy preferences, political evaluations, and candidate preferenceSo rather than structuring specific attitudes around overarching ideological principles, people may rely on specific values and beliefs to make sense of the political world

29 Continued…To some extent, policies are judged right or wrong because of their implications for deeply held valuesValues and beliefs do not form an integrated ideology- in the mass electorate they are only weakly associated with each otherStability over time is a crucial elementCore beliefs and values have predictive power

30 Value choice and attitudesthere are meaningful individual value hierarchiesvalue preferences do have a direct impact on issue attitudes within the mass publicBUTextreme variability in value choicesvalues do not seem to provide a general attitude formation routine for relatively unsophisticated citizens who are less attentive to ideological abstractions and other such political cuesanalysts should be hesitant to grant core personal values any particular theoretical primacy within scholarly representations of political behaviour (Jaccoby, 2006)

31 Socialist/laissez-faire scale 1989 British Social Attitudes Survey – panel section ( Heath, Evans, Martin, 1994)Socialist/laissez-faire scaleCollectivism and individualism, government intervention and free enterprise, economic and political equality2)Liberation/authoritarian values scale ( rather low internal reliability)Freedom of thought and conscience, freedom of association, freedom to pursue one’s own course of life

32 Socialist/laissez-faire scale itemsOrdinary people get their fair share of the nation's wealthThere is one law for the rich and one for the poorThere is no need for strong trade unions to protect employees' working conditions and wagesIt is government's responsibility to provide a job for everyone who wants onePrivate enterprise is the best way to solve Britain's economic problemsMajor public services and industries ought to be in state ownership.

33 Liberation/authoritarian scale items(short)Young people today don't have enough respect for traditional British valuesCensorship of films and magazines is necessary to uphold moral standardsPeople in Britain should be more tolerant of those who lead unconventional livesHomosexual relations are always wrongPeople should be allowed to organize public meetings to protest against the governmentEven political parties that wish to overthrow democracy should not be banned.

35 socialist/laissez-faire values are more closely related to class, income and housing tenurelibertarian/authoritarian values are more closely related to age, education and religionpeople with higher incomes tend to have laissez-faire valuesbecause of the correlation between income and higher education, they also tend to have libertarian values rather than authoritarian ones

36 education, same pattern - people with higher levels of education tend to have laissez-faire rather than socialist economic values but libertarian rather than authoritarian moral valueschurch attendance, different pattern: regular attenders tend to have both laissez-faire and authoritarian values

38 Neither party identity, the postmaterialism indices nor the long libertarian scale show much difference in stability between the better and less educated respondentsThe socialism scale and class identity show greater differences, but by far the greatest difference occurs with the abstract left-right scale, where the correlation between the two rounds falls to 0.41 among the less educated.

40 the socialism scale is strongly associated with Labour and Conservative preferencesthe libertarian scale by comparison has weaker (although still statistically significant) effects on support for the parties

41 Party identification and core political values are central elements in the political belief systems of ordinary citizensAre these predispositions related to one another? Does party identification influence core political values or are partisan identities grounded in such values?

42 Goren(2005) SEM to estimate dynamic models of attitude stability and constraintData from the National Election Study panel surveypartisan identities are more stable than the principles of equal opportunity, limited government, traditional family values, and moral tolerance; party identification constrains equal opportunity, limited government, and moral tolerance; and these political values do not constrain party identification

44 Much of past literature had been dedicated to explaining attitudes towards political leaders, preferences on issues of public policy, evaluations of government performanceMore important: uncovering underlying principles that lend consistency and meaningfulness to public opinion

45 Social constraint perspectiveStructure in mass belief systems develops as a function of social learningPolitical elites organise political attitudes and beliefs into coherent structures for consumption by the publicThe more people are exposed to them and the better they comprehend them, the more likely their beliefs will be systematically organised

46 So how do core beliefs and values influence political opinions?Policy preferences, performance judgements, candidate assessments are all political evaluations (Feldman, 1988)These are made on the basis of a number of criteria such as self interest, group identifications and political eventsSo important to note that public attitudes are not completely structured by beliefs and values